Our Teachers

You are interested in learning an instrument form one of our teachers or simply wish to learn more about the heads behind the Basilica Music School?

Here they introduce themselves:

Romano Giefer - Choir Director - Singing, Piano

Romano Giefer is a church and educational musician and is working for the St. Mary's Basilica since 2009, first as cantor, and since 2012 as choir director.

Through his work and as a father of four, singing with children has become a major part of his life.

In 2010 he founded the Singing School where now over 80 children from ages 3 to 16 are singing in different forms of choirs.

Together with the different choirs and the Basilica Orchestra he supports the sermons of the Basilica every sun- and holiday.

For this special demand he has also himself composed several pieces for children's choirs and on the occasion of the 150th Basilica anniversary in 2014 a universally praised symphonic
arrangement of the song "Segne du, Maria".

Georg Schillinger - Singing

Georg Schillinger was born in 1969 in Freudenstadt. After completing his universital degree in church-music, he studied singing at the Music-University of Cologne, department Aachen, in Professor
Visca's courses. Subsequently, his mentors were D. Cordier, T. Heyer and P. Abilgaard. Apart from his concert activities, he has been teaching singing since the year 2004.

Anja Roßmann - Piano, Concert Flute

After graduation Roßman studied educational music at the Cologne University of Music with in the areas of piano, concert flute and singing.

She participated in master courses with Prof. Ludwig and Prof. Kämmerling and enjoyed a big extend of further training in education and singing with children.

Since the beginning of 2014 she is also being trained in creative therapy for kids and teenagers.

Natalie Drabbels-Ciuhak - Piano

Natalie Drabbels-Ciuhak successfully graduated from the Arnhem (NL) Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in the subjects classic piano and light music.

Since the year 2000, during her studies, she is already working as a piano teacher.

After her studies she worked at different music schools in Germany and the Netherlands and as a private teacher.

Since 1994 she has been regularly performing as a pianist in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland, either solo or with various duos and ensembles as well as accompanying various
instrumentalists and singers.

As a teen she regularly participated in the competition "Jugend musiziert" and won several 1st prices in the regional bracket as well as the 2nd in the 1996 "Land"-bracket.

In 2000 she received the prize for young talents of the Kreissparkasse Düsseldorf.

Hans Simons is a music enthusiast from the Netherlands who has also been active in Germany as a drummer. He is teaching drum bands as well as private students.

In the Netherlands he absolved all percussion exams from bronze to gold and has since 1996 been a certified teacher for percussion instruments including the snare drum, timpani,
mallets (Vibraphone, Marimba, Xylophone etc.) and of course drum set.

Simons is working with various successful drum bands and regularly visits festivals, competitions and examinations with them.

His students show extraordinary success, especially in soloist competitions.

Annette Giefer - Concert Flute

Annette Giefer studied educational music and speech-orthopedagogy at the cologne university. In her professional training she did always sought a convergence of her two study
paths.

As a speech therapist she specialized in the therapy of voice and breathing malfunctions which she also emphasizes in her
activity as a concert flute teacher.

She has prepared numerous students for competitions and university qualifying examinations.